The article presents an empirical study of the legitimation of the market economy in the public sphere and examines whether criticism of the market economy has increased as a result of the euro crisis. The research results support the hypothesis of a transformation of the legitimacy basis for...

This working paper first outlines the contours of a discourse analytical approach to the study of legitimation processes and then presents findings from a quantitative analysis of legitimacy-related communication in selected print media of the United Kingdom, Switzerland, and the United States...

This paper discusses the potential contribution of parliamentary institutions and networks to the democratization of global economic governance. It places the analysis in the context of the larger debate on the democratic deficit of international economic institutions, in particular the WTO. On...

The European Monetary Union (EMU) has removed crucial instruments of macroeconomic management from the control of democratically accountable governments. Worse still, the EMU has systemically caused destabilizing macroeconomic imbalances that member states found difficult or impossible to...

European integration has come to constrain the capacity for democratic political action in EU member states through the judicial constitutionalization of "economic liberties," whereas the capacity for effective political action at the European level is narrowly constrained by the multiple-veto...

Es ist eine weitverbreitete Wahrnehmung, dass die Politik vergleichsweise schlecht funktio-niert, das heisst nur unbefriedigende Ergebnisse hervorbringt. Politiker und Parteien haben eine geringe Wertschätzung in der Gesellschaft. Dies gilt sowohl für die Bürger als auch für viele Experten...

We outline a new voting procedure for representative democracies. This procedure should be used for important decisions only and consists of two voting rounds: a randomly-selected subset of the citizens is awarded a one-time voting right. The parliament also votes, and the two decisions are...

This essay re-examines the dual - republican and liberal - foundations of democratic legitimacy in the Western traditions of normative political theory. Considered in isolation, the European Union conforms to liberal standards but cannot satisfy republican criteria. Given these conflicting...